Purgatory's Aftermath
by Deborahpflover
Summary: Dean wakes up after being thrown back to Earth by the portal in Purgatory. Exhausted and guilty as he is, he still has a promise to keep and a friend to pick up.


**A suprise SPN story that I randomly came up with. I wrote this in one go at 10 PM after looking at pictures of Dean who travels by foot on an abandoned road with a stolen backpack after coming back from Purgatory, and pictures of him doing the actual ritual to resurrect Benny. It just gave me this idea, because Dean looked so exhausted and lost right then. So I tried to translate the feeling it gave me into the story. I really loved Benny and the friendship he and Dean had. I'm still crushed about his dead. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. Enjoy and please leave a Review with your thoughts.**

 ** **Disclaimer** **: ******"Supernatural" and all related logos, titles and characters are trademarks of the CW and Warner Bros. I own nothing. Eric Kripke is the brilliant creator of this awesome show.**

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Dean wakes up in a dark forest all by himself. There's dirt under his fingers as he claws himself upright. The forest is different that he remembers. It's thick and there's less space to move than Dean has gotten used too. Luckily the blade of obsidian is still in his hand, muscles long since trained to hold on to weapons no matter what. There's no moon, but there are stars as far as he can see through the thick layers of branches and leaves. His arm hurts and when Dean looks at it it's glowing a ominous dark red.

Benny's soul.

Memories come pouring back, temporarily forgotten after the violent transition between Purgatory and Earth. Memories of those last day, when he, Cas and Benny finally reached the portal Benny had been claiming there was. He remembers slicing his arm and promising Benny to see him on the other side. He remembers the Leviathan and the fight. He remembers trying to hold on to Cas' hand. He remembers Cas falling and the portal closing.

There's nothing after that, just some jumbled colors and a sensation of almost being pulled apart. There's a scream still echoing in his ears, but Dean ignores it and just starts walking. The stars are bright above his head and the air around him is clear. He can make out the ones he needs to find the Polaris and walks in that direction. Straight lines, as best as he can, checking in on the star every once in a while and adjusting. He can't get lost now.

This isn't Purgatory anymore, it's Earth. Earth means he will get hungry and thirsty, means that he has to catch more than fast naps once in a while. There are no more monsters everywhere around him which he has to fight off every waking moment. It doesn't relax him. He knows better than to expect something good. He can't let his guard down, can't relax. He's in woods gods knows where with no back-up and no supplies to survive apart from his blade and the things in his pockets. It's less than he had first though, he lost his jacket somewhere between getting sucked into the portal and waking up. His lucifers are gone, together with two knives, a flask, some salt he still had. The only things he still has besides his clothes are a knife strapped to his ankle, his signature gun and a lock-pick in one of the pockets of his jeans.

The forest creeps Dean out. There are too many sounds. Purgatory was mostly eerie quiet until some random monster came bursting through the underground to fling itself at you. Earth is alive, and that means that there are crickets and birds and all kinds of other animals. Hell, he's not even forgetting about monsters. This might not be Purgatory, but that doesn't mean he's safe. And at the moment, he doesn't have the arsenal to deal with them. Monsters in Purgatory die easier, less ritual and more brutal fight. After all, they're all monsters there and it's their afterlife. Here though, he needs specific weapons again, and although chopping off heads works good enough, it won't kill everything. Against Angels, demons, ghosts or wendigo's it will have no use whatsoever. So Dean keeps walking. Years of military training and hunting pay themselves off. He doesn't sleep and rarely rests as he sneaks through the forest. He doesn't think too much about Purgatory, just focuses on the moment. There's no use for worrying about things he can't immediately do something about. He won't think about Cas, he won't think about Benny, he won't even think about Sam. He just marches.

It's been three days before Dean stumbles across the campers. Their frightened faces are the first humans he has seen in more than a year and he's glad to be away again. The backpack holds fresh clothes, a satellite phone, lucifers, a camera, a small knife, rope, a sleeping bag and some food. It takes all Dean self-control not to devour the food in one go. He can't. He's still lost, there's no way of getting more if he eats it all. He has no ammunition for his gun, no nooses, no knowledge of the edible plants in this forest.

So he tucks the largest part back even though he's starving by now and keeps himself going by picturing his dad in front of him, going faster than he can go and calling commands back to 'keep going Dean! This is nothing, we walked for weeks in Vietnam'. Dean hasn't kept the marching training up as well as he should have since he and Dad started working separate cases and didn't see each other for months. Obviously, with all the stuff happening since then, keeping up with regular military training took a backseat.

It takes him another two days to get out of the forest. He finds a dirt road and follows it to an asphalt one. Then it's more walking. The good thing is that he can now see where he is. The first town, small and not used to strangers gives him the best night of sleep in over more than a year. He grabs more food, money, shotgun ammunition and a plaid shirt before moving on. More marching. Only when he reaches a bigger town he gets his lock-pick out and steals a car. The rumbling of the engine and the landscape flying by clears his head a bit. The open road is all he's ever known.

The next stop is Benny's hidden grave to resurrect him. It's half-across the country, but it doesn't bother Dean. With a car, he can do it in no-time, especially with the little sleep he's still getting. He switches cars a few times just to make sure that he doesn't leaves any traces for the police to track down. It's not necessary, but he still feels paranoid and it makes him feel better. He even doubts the cars will be found back soon. Background towns and abandoned roads seldom get much attention. Stolen cars also usually don't cross state borders.

Driving makes him feel more like Dean Winchester again, and Dean begins to wonder where Sam is. He ditched the satellite phone days ago, and now he buys a new one, leaves Sam countless messages when he realizes none of the numbers are getting any response. He worries, but hopes that Sam just went underground to avoid any problems with the hopefully scattered Leviathans. Beyond that Dean doesn't do anything but travel. Cas and everything that remotely relates to the Angel is permanently stuffed to the back of his brain and ignored. It hurts too much to think about, because it's his fault he's still stuck there. He doesn't know what to do about it. There's just guilt and desperation.

His arm bothers him. It's painful to the touch and movement irritates. He doesn't know if the ritual will work. He's tempted to research it, but he doesn't have anything to check it with. Sam has the laptop, their Dad's and Samuel's journals and the numbers of other hunters who might know more. Dean already knows he won't be able to find anything about it on his own without those resources. It's too specific for that. Internet will only have a load of bullshit and normal books won't even have anything that's true on vampires.

He misses Benny.

The vampire was his constant companion for over a year, and three hundred degrees combat creates a strong bond very fast. Benny has earned Dean's respect and even his trust. He told the truth about the portal and he had Dean's back through the whole year down there, patiently following Dean on his search for Cas. There's something Dean got to like in vampire, something in the humor he had despite living in Purgatory for more than fifty years. It helped that Benny liked humans too, long before they ever met. After the whole ordeal with the Leviathans who almost killed Cas before Benny jumped in, every bit of doubt that Dean still held towards him vanished in an instant. His Dad would turn around in his grave if he knew about this. Other hunters would probably declare him mentally insane and pick up the hunt on him and Sam again that they'd abandoned after Gordon's death and the halt of the Apocalypse.

He doesn't give a damn this time. If there's anybody who deserves it, who has _honestly_ earned a favor like this, it's Benny. Dean won't turn his back on him. Not now he has already failed Cas so spectacularly and now that Sam is nowhere to be found. Benny is the last person in this whole world Dean can help at the moment.

When he reaches the spot it's late in the afternoon. He starts digging and the sun sets while he does. Digging is a bitch too after so long of not doing any salt-and-burns. But it's worth it when he finally stumbles upon the bones and can cut his arm open. The ritual is short, thank god and Benny's soul crackles when it hits the bones. Within moments, the bones are gone and Dean looks behind him.

He's so _done_. So utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally when he sees Benny, that it's a relief when Benny hugs him and grins.

"We made it brother."

It's been weeks after violently being thrown back on Earth and waking up disorientated and alone. It's been weeks since he lost Cas. It's been more than a year since he last saw Sammy. He misses the pureness of Purgatory, he hates himself for leaving Cas behind, he's worried sick about his little brother.

But it's alright, at least for now, because he made it. _They_ made it. This is Earth and there's no more fighting, no more Leviathan chasing them. He held up his end of the bargain, the promise he made his new friend that everything would be alright. He's gonna be happy and relieved for just a second now. At least he hasn't lost Benny.


End file.
